Place 3: Perhaps the last artificial intelligence of the Imperium
After a “machine uprising” artificial intelligence is strictly forbidden in the Imperium. Meanwhile, acquiring new technology is difficult because much knowledge has been lost in the past.
Accordingly, remnants from earlier times can be immensely powerful – like the Speranza, one of the exploration vessels of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Its primary mission is, similar to that of the Enterprise from Star Trek, the acquisition of knowledge, just less peacefully.
With the size of a whole continent and a shipyard, it is more of a manufacturing world than a simple research vessel. Furthermore, it possesses something that makes the Speranza absolutely deadly: a consciousness.
What is known today as a “machine spirit” are potential remnants of artificial intelligences, and the spirit of the Speranza is by far the most developed. The Speranza was discovered and “completed” by the Mechanicus, which literally awakened it:
- Its moment of birth destroyed a whole world in a radioactive storm.
- The machine spirit has devoured all connected machines and taken form.
- Through ancient, forgotten knowledge, the Speranza possesses weapons unlike any other ship, can manipulate time, and create black holes.
As the machine spirit actually lives in the Speranza, it has even been known to protect itself (and thus the ship) from attacks without the crew having to intervene significantly. Today, it is possibly the strongest ship of the Imperium.
